Friday, March 31, 2017

I’m a sucker for an Instagram-hyped-product. I’ve tried applying
my foundation with a condom (gross), I’ve tried eyeliner stencils (crap), and
now I’ve finally got around to
reviewing the Oval Brushes I received for Christmas. I’m a slave to the wisdom
of my favourite bloggers and YouTubers, and whatever they love, I end up
blindly adding to my birthday and Christmas lists.

I unwrapped my Oval Brush Set on crimbo morning (Jesus, am I still reviewing Christmas gifts?!?) and
I was reeeeally excited. Like, I nearly spilled my prosecco and choked on my
Lindt Lindor. There’s around ten brushes in the set, and since it was from the
WISH app, it cost less than £10. I had asked for a cheaper set; I’m a true
believer in trying a cheaper version before splurging on a real thing. So, at
£1 per brush, it’s a pretty good deal.

Out of the ten brushes, five are larger sized and the other five
are, well, an eclectic and random mix of smaller shapes.

I’ll start off by saying that I love the look of these brushes
as a set. They’re sleek and feature a pretty rose gold accent on the handle.
It’s only when you actually try using them that you get a bit…confused.

The larger 5 brushes are pretty good. They apply foundation nice
and smooth, concealer goes on well and blends out nicely. Powder application
with these brushes is a little patchy, but it works.

The smaller 5 brushes are a mess. They are so random and
stupidly shaped and I’ve got no idea what on earth they’re for. I did a first
impressions video over on my YouTube channel (that I’ll link down below!) and I
ended up just giving up. I am so baffled and annoyed by the useless smaller
brushes that I’d quite like to set them on fire and do a sacrificial dance in
my pants.

There’s been a few blogger-recommended products that I’ve ended
up absolutely adoring; the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, the Liz Earle Hot
Cloth Cleanser, my beloved Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette.
THEN, there are a few that get an “…ehhh..”.

Or maybe an “..ehh..” is a little harsh. I’d probably give this
Oval Brush set a 5/10 overall. Worth a buy if you’re wanting to try them out,
but beware on splashing ALL the cash straight away!

Monday, March 27, 2017

Let’s keep this short and sweet. I flipping
LOVE this mascara. This is the best mascara ever, in the world. The end. I was
so unbelievably late on the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara bandwagon, and I
can’t believe I even survived this long without it. It was £19 from Selfridges,
and if you only buy one thing this month, make it this!

I included this beautiful, pink chrome tube
of goodness in my February favourites. I’d definitely say that it is comparable
to Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara, however, where Benefit’s option left me with
quite clumpy lashes, this one doesn’t at all. The lashes feel thick and smooth;
elongated and curled, and lifted at the roots. My eyes look about ten times
larger. It’s comfortable to wear all day, and the packaging looks too pretty in
my blog photos.

My one and only gripe with this, is that I’d
only really had it about a month before it started going a bit dry in the tube,
and felt like it was running out. It’s still quite dry, but I can still get
product out and onto my lashes. I know I’ve been using it a WHOLE lot, but I’d
hope that a £19 mascara would last me more than 30 days! I’ve put a drop of
saline solution in the tube to make it last longer, but it does seem to have
started running out rather quickly. This makes me and my bank account very,
very sad because we cannot possibly live without this mascara any more.

I’d also say that this is an extreeeeemely
smudge proof mascara. It’s super longwearing, even to the point that it’s a
bloody job and a half to get it off. It takes about a litre of micellar water
to get anywhere near clean eyes, which is sort of annoying, but it’s a sign of
how great the mascara formula is. It doesn’t budge all day, and doesn’t fade
out to that horrible grey-ish looking mascara that some of them do.

Despite my little whinge mid-blogpost, I
would completely recommend that you try this mascara if you haven’t already. I
know it’s a bit of an investment, but I’ve never looked so awake and fluttery in
my entire life.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Since I’ve
embarked on Operation-Summer-Bod, my weightloss has been slow but steady. I’m
also adopting a very ‘flexitarian’ diet, which means that most days I eat
meat-free meals, some days I’m vegan, and other days I still love to rip in to
a big fat burger. I’ve been much more creative in the kitchen lately, just
because my diet has changed so much lately. Eating meat-free meals makes you
want to add in flavour where you might be missing it from meat, and when I cook
vegan meals, I go crazy experimenting with new spices and flavours. I wanted to
start this ‘What I Ate Today’ series because it might be really fun to
photograph what I’m shovelling down my neck. As well as this, if I come up with
a wicked recipe, It’ll be easy to share it with you!

When I
started this weightloss mission, I weighed 9st 4lbs. This is the heaviest I’ve
ever been. I’m about 3 weeks in, and although I have enjoyed about 4 cheat
days, I’m now dead on 9st. So here's what I ate today!

3 egg +
ham omelette

I took 3
large eggs and a splash of semi-skimmed milk and whisked it up in a mug. Then I
shredded a slice of honey-roasted ham and a sprinkle of black pepper. I just
chucked this in a pan on a low heat and made myself quite a humungous omelette.
I calculated the calorie count of this to be around 350 calories, which is pretty good going. I’d usually smother this
in cheese and bbq sauce, but as I’m being healthier recently I’m trying to cut
down on the unnecessary fat and sugars.

Tesco
Healthy Living Lentil + Vegetable soup

I’m
absolutely obsessed with soup!! And when I realised that lots of supermarkets
do a low-calorie option, I immediately stocked up on the various
calorie-counted soups. I literally just throw this in a bowl and zap it in the
microwave (no unnecessary dishes to do! Bonus!) for about 3 minutes. There’s
technically 2 servings per tin, but since they’re so low in calories, I don’t
feel too guilty about eating the whole tin. The whole tin contains 156 calories, and I don’t have any
bread or anything with it. I usually feel really satisfied after a big bowl of
soup, so I’m happy to only have this small amount of calories.

My DIY
Burrito Bowls

This is
an old photo but I re-made this recipe that I came up with/stole from Tortilla.
It’s a wrap-less burrito which makes it a lower carb option, and is packed full
of vegetables, beans, rice, guacamole and cheese! It is quite a calorific meal
for me, coming in at 461 calories,
but it’s full of goodness and is so unbelievably filling. I know you’re meant
to eat a smaller meal in the evenings, but as I’ve stopped eating late and ain
to have dinner between 6pm and 7pm, I feel better about nomming this down. The full recipe blog-post (which I’m super proud of!) can be found here.

I had a
couple of sugary bevvies throughout the day, though. I’ve had a can of coke which is
about 140 calories (oops) and now
I’m sitting here sipping on Lambrini. Luckily, Lambrini, despite being
completely embarrassing to admit you drink, is very low in calories. It’s
roughly 100 calories per most-of a
bottle (yes I’ve drank most of a bottle what about it?).

This
means that my day’s calorie intake was 1206.
I’m pretty pleased with that. I like to aim for between 1200 and 1300 calories
per day, because it definitely means that I’ll be losing some weight somewhere,
even if I can’t be bothered to go for runs. I really hope you enjoyed this
blog-post! I’ll be doing more of them in the future; partly to keep me on my toes
and conscious of what I’m shoving down my neck, and also to hopefully inspire
and motivate others who are on the weightloss-bandwagon!